Shield & Sword
by Blahblah101111
Summary: "Well, then, let's make a pact. If somehow we get separated," Blaine drew out one of his swords and made his way to the large stone, "We'll meet back up at this spot. That way, we'll be reunited. Promise, Kurt?" "I promise."  AU. Klaine.
1. Introduction

**AN: Welcome!**

**So, for anyone who's already read my other (and first) Glee fic, this is the rewrite of it. Long story short, I didn't like the way I wrote it the first time, so I'm going to just scrap the whole thing and try again.**

**This is just the introduction to the story, hence why it's so short (I just used the word "hence"...), and I'll be updating in about a month or so when I have a bunch of chapters written, since if I write through everything I want to write, the whole story could take well over 50 chapters.**

**That was a lot of commas.**

**Storyline is based off of Suikoden II, a game very close to my heart, but with a couple (okay, a bunch) of twists. If you already know what Suikoden is, I will give you a big hug and a cookie.**

**Characters (most of them, anyway) belong to Glee and FOX, and storyline to Konami.**

**LET THE REWRITE COMMENCE!**

In a faraway land in a universe that is of no concern to the history of our own planet lies a country by the name of Ohio.

Yes, in this world of a faraway universe and an unknown time period, Ohio is not a rural state in the middle of the United States of America, but a small country.

And within this country lie seven independent provinces, each with similar laws and customs, but separate purposes and specialties that, as a whole, bind the country together.

In the far north lies Carmel, the official military center of the country. Here, the well-renowned and expertly disciplined Red and Blue Knights are trained under the instruction of the ruthless Sue Sylvester and her elite legion of White Knights. They are all in charge of maintaining the security of the nation as well as fighting in wars against invading neighbors if they should attack.

To the west lies Crawford, the intellectual center of Ohio. The very middle of the province is graced by the largest and most esteemed university in the entire country, teaching all subjects imaginable from fine arts to military strategy to healthcare and medicine. The province was once governed by an innovative university graduate by the name of Alexander Chang, but he mysteriously disappeared only a few years prior to the present, leaving his daughter, Tina, as the acting mayor.

To the southwest lies Westvale, a land of diversity. Split into three sections by two long and winding rivers, this is the homeland of all the different races of Ohio. In one portion live the humans; In another the Wingers, a nature-worshipping tribe of a human-like species, only with wings; And in the last the Kobolds, a species of speaking dogs who walk on two feet. Despite the equality of the three tribes within the country, the leadership role has fallen to a strange and eccentric single human by the name of Sandy Ryerson.

To the south lies Portland, the center of manufacturing in the nation of Ohio. Located within the closest proximity of just about every natural resource in the country, the large province has a great range of environments, from abundant mines in the far south to lush forests more near the north. Most of the resources are then traded or sent to the huge capital city to be manufactured into all sorts of useable goods, which are then shipped to many parts of the country. Portland is led by a very wealthy man by the name of Ken Tanaka, who, although accused of corruption in several courth trials during the history of his leadership, has managed to keep the bustling province under control for many years.

To the southeast lies McKinley, the main source of agriculture for the rest of the country. Made up of mostly fields and a few small forests, the province provides the perfect environment for all sorts of farming and is responsible for the majority of the food that reaches the rest of the country. Unfortunately, due to the underespected nature of the labor, the residents of McKinley are among the poorest of the country. In a political standpoint, however, McKinley is seen to be the most fair to the people, being the only democratic province in the entire country. Instead of having a single leader control the whole area, an elected council governs the province, with four representatives being elected every four years. At present, the elected representatives are Nicolas Duval, esteemed rural-born swordsman; Jeffrey Sterling, mysterious yet greatly skilled warrior who is closely associated with Nicholas due to origins unknown; Drake Palomo, the former village head of Vogyl, a small village in the east of the province; And Kyle Ryan, a McKinley-born scholar who was one of the few from the province to graduate from Crawford University with a proper degree in law.

To the northeast lies Dalton, the political center of the country. Ohio, though divided into independent provinces, still requires a single leader in order to function and to remain unified, so Dalton could be considered the capital of the country. Therefore, despite being the smallest province, it is by far the most powerful in all of Ohio. Nestled within a mountain range in the center of the country is Dalton Palace, home to the royal family that governs the nation as well as home to the hand-picked and carefully trained Royal Guard, also known as the Warblers. The current king of Ohio (yes, that does sound strange, but that is only because you, dear reader, are still in the mindset that Ohio is a rural state, which it is not) is none other than Solomon Goolsby, a fair and honest leader who is well-liked amongst all the provinces he governs.

Lastly, in the very center of all the provinces, lies Diamant, the center of all trade. Being between literally every single other province, Diamant is the richest and grandest province of them all. Sure, there are a few small villages and towns scattered around the area, like all other provinces, but its capital city is truly a sight to behold. Only the most successful of businessmen and entrepreneurs can afford to take residence in the capital city, the epitome of wealth and grandeur in the nation. The wealthiest of them all, second only to the royal family themselves (who have a second home in the Diamant capital, of course), Emma Pillsbury, is the mayor of the province. However, despite being so rich, Emma is a relatively shy and modest woman who often travels to the smaller villages of Diamant to mingle with the residents, making her universally loved by not only the residents of Diamant, but most of Ohio.

The peace that rests in Ohio sounds as if it is ages old, as if it is the way that the country has always been run since the old ages of its founding. However, that is not the case.

Only a century ago, Ohio had been a single, unified country ruled by Dalton. There were no independent provinces, just many large cities with their own specialties. All villages, towns and cities were under the direct control of the Dalton King, who had his own followers and officials appointed in the government positions of each of the places he ruled over. This was how the nation had been run since it had been created.

Unfortunately for Dalton, the old regime had been toppled in a massive rebellion only 55 years ago.

The final absolute king had ruled 60 years ago, and was named Anton Goolsby. He is now notorious for being the worst ruler that Ohio had ever seen. Where former kings and royal families had taken only a portion of the tax money (the nation was mostly self-sustainable, so the income of the royals came from taxes on goods and services as opposed to profits from exporting goods), leaving the rest to be distributed to the poor and those who needed it, Anton took it all for himself. He spent it all on lavish foreign goods from faraway countries, so the money he spent couldn't even be re-circulated into the system that had been so carefully established in the nation. Without the tax money going to them, the peasant farmers of McKinley began to produce less and less food, and the drought that had come upon them was no help, either. Food prices soared, yet nobody in the nation was making a penny more than what they'd been earning before. Workers lost their jobs because bosses simply couldn't afford to pay them any longer. Prices of all goods, education and resources nearly doubled in a desperate effort by everyone to make enough to afford to eat. Ohio residents everywhere were starving, and King Anton did nothing about it.

The McKinley peasants were the first to rebel, since they were the ones being denied their money, as well as because their farms are nearest to the borders of Dalton. Thousands of peasants stormed into Dalton and towards the royal palace. Even the perfectly-trained army of the royals wasn't enough to halt the advances. After all, it's pretty hard to stop a couple thousand hungry and muscular farmers at once.

However, just as the McKinley Rebels (as they had been called by the Dalton Royals) approached the castle, their siege was faced head-on by the soldiers of Carmel, whose young leader, Doris Sylvester, was a strong (and most likely bribed) supporter of King Anton. Thus began the Ohio War for Independence (or simply the Independence War, as many call it today).

The war raged on for five whole years, with the small armies and commoners of McKinley, Crawford, Diamant, Westvale and Portland (who had taken up the name "New Directions") teaming up to face off against the well-trained and powerful military forces of Carmel and Dalton. The war ended with a victory by the New Directions (abbreviated to ND about a year or so into the war), and new negotiations about the country were made. The leaders of all the large cities held a conference in Diamant, where they decided to split the country up into self-governed provinces. The newly-formed provinces also agreed to allow the Dalton royal family to maintain power, so long as the king was well-suited for the job. The provinces also gained the power to topple the king from his throne (by popular vote) if he was not doing his job correctly. Thus, the provinces of Ohio were formed, and had been well-maintained up until present day.

But the peace couldn't last forever. In fact, in this case, it couldn't even last for a mere 60 years.

After a half a century of peace, war will rage in the country of Ohio once again, the fate of the country placed in the hands of two men. Boys, actually, both of them being but nineteen years old at present.

Yes, the fate of the country lies in the hands of Kurt Elizabeth Hummel and Blaine Anderson, two Warblers-in-training that will fall into a most unfortunate destiny.

Our story begins today, on the outskirts of Dalton, perched upon a high cliff overlooking the river, where the two boys, hand-in-hand, are about to take their first leap into the most daring, exciting and earth-shattering adventure of their lives.


	2. Ambush

**AN: Happy September! I'd originally intended not to be finished with enough to post until about halfway through this month, but a sudden stroke of writing inspiration just hit me today, so instead of doing my summer work that's due tomorrow (ermm...today, now, since it's past midnight...), I wrote up a little somethin' somethin' ;)**

**Hope you enjoy :) Leave a review if you like it, they make my heart go wheee :D**

**(Oh, and Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy and FOX and all that xD)**

There's something just so exciting and profound about standing at the edge of a cliff, feeling the cool breeze as it meets your skin, listening to the rustle of trees in the distance and the whistle of the wind when it passes your ears. It makes you feel like you're at the top of the world, just looking down on everyone and everything, feeling as if everything is just so...insignificant. It's like all your troubles are beneath you and all that matters is you and the soundtrack the nature around you has provided.

Those sorts of thoughts are precisely why Kurt Hummel loved the tall ledge just off of the Warbler campsite. He stood a foot from the edge and spread his arms wide, letting his blazer catch the breeze and watching as his normally-pristine striped tie fluttered in midair. He even forgot that the wind ruins his carefully-styled brown hair every time, he was so caught up in the powerful ambiance.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Kurt flinched at the interruption to his privacy and consciously took a step backwards in his surprise, so as to not fall off the edge of the cliff and into the raging river a long ways below.

"Thanks for breaking the mood, Blaine. I was really feeling quite empowered until you showed up." Kurt smirked, turning to his best friend leaning against a large rock near the entrance to the secluded location. He felt the familiar nervous tingling in his stomach he'd been recently getting when Blaine was around, but he pushed it aside as he always did.

"Mmhmm...empowered, you say?" Blaine cocked his head to the side. "I thought you looked sort of like a flying squirrel trying to catch the wind." Kurt sent Blaine back a glare in response, to which Blaine simply chuckled.

"You better watch that pretty head of yours in our next sparring session," Kurt jokingly warned as he approached. "You never know when my staff might just 'accidentally' give you a black eye."

Blaine continued to laugh. "And what exactly makes you think you'll actually be able to land that hit?"

"You did not just question my abilities with a weapon." Kurt said while employing what most considered to be his "bitch, please" face, narrowing his blue eyes ever-so-slightly while raising an eyebrow. He took a few more steps towards Blaine, looking down at his hazel eyes through a few wisps of his mop of dark, curly hair.

"Or did I?" Blaine quipped in response, still smiling and raising his triangular eyebrows as he tilted his head back to compensate for the few inches Kurt had over him.

By now, Kurt couldn't help but realize that his face was only a few centimeters away from Blaine's and that he could almost feel his breath on his face. If he were to just lean in and close the distance...

"So, Blaine Warbler," Kurt suddenly said, backing up about a foot as he shook himself out of his Blaine-induced trance, "what compelled your lovely interruption of my profound moment here?"

"Oh, right!" Blaine replied, seeming as if he had just been shaken out of a trance as well. "Wes and David sent me to find you. Apparently they want to do a bit of last-minute sparring before we all go back home."

"That's right. We leave the camp in a few days." Kurt realized. He and Blaine had been training to become Warblers, Dalton soldiers for the royal family, for almost two years. Since they'd left their hometown of Lima, they hadn't been back to visit once, so finally going back was a huge deal for the both of them.

"Yeah..." Blaine stared up to the partly cloudy sky, deep in thought for about a minute.

"Earth to Blaine!" Kurt said as he waved a hand in front of Blaine's glazed-over eyes. Blaine scrunched his eyes shut and shook his head in response while murmuring an apology.

"We'd better get back to Wes and David before they get impatient." Blaine suggested once Kurt had gotten his attention back.

Kurt nodded in agreement and the two made their way to the two large rocks lining the pathway back to the campsite.

"Yeah, and you'll get a taste of my skills with weaponry once you get a staff to the face."

* * *

><p>Kurt and Blaine headed to their tent in the middle of the Warbler campsite, where, after throwing open the canvas flaps working as a door, they found their two sparring partners. One, an Asian boy named Wes with short-cut hair, stood concentrated in the center of the room swinging a wooden sword in complex patterns. The other, David, dark-skinned with an almost completely clean-shaven head, lay on one of four beds lined up against the far side of the large tent, twirling a small and thin tree twig between his fingers.<p>

"It's about time you two showed up." said the Asian boy as he stopped his carefully-practiced movements. He placed the end of the sword on the tarp floor and leaned on it casually, smirking at Kurt and Blaine.

"A few more minutes and we would have assumed you were out having sex or something." the black boy added, smiling. Kurt and Blaine simultaneously blushed and took a small step away from each other. Wes took the opportunity to smack his dark-skinned friend upside the head with his wooden sword, staring him down.

"Very funny, David." Kurt rolled his eyes, trying to brush off the comment. He and Blaine awkwardly glanced around the room in silence for a few moments.

"Anyway!" Wes suddenly interjected a little too loudly in an obvious attempt to cut the tension. "We should head out before it gets dark. We've only got so much time, you know."

"Agreed, Wes." Blaine finally spoke up. "We just have to grab our stuff first."

David jumped up off of his bed while Blaine and Kurt went to their respective beds to retrieve their training weapons. Kurt's bed was neatly made and his entire living area was organized, so it took him all of two seconds to pick up the long wooden staff leaning against the wall and turn to Wes and David. Blaine, on the other hand, needed a bit more time.

"I could've sworn I had it around here..." Blaine muttered, throwing blankets and clothes from the floor onto his unmade bed. His three friends all sigh. Blaine had always been the least organized out of the four of them.

"And this is precisely why I keep telling you to clean!" Kurt said impatiently as Blaine searches beneath his bed. "The four of us have spent almost two whole years training together, and yet you still haven't made your organizational habits any better!"

"Aha!" Blaine shouted triumphantly, pulling two wooden training swords slightly smaller than Wes's out from beneath a stray pillowcase. He ran up to his three friends by the entrance, filled with energy. "Let's go!"

A short walk brought Kurt, Blaine, Wes and David to a small clearing just off the edge of the campsite where they typically trained during their days off. Most other Warblers-in-training thought them crazy for continuing their practice during their rare time off, but it was just something they all enjoyed doing and were used to. Kurt and Blaine had grown up with intensive martial arts training from Kurt's father and Wes and David had both had Warblers for parents, so it only made sense that they'd be so used to the constant vigorous training.

"I take it we're doing the usual today?" Wes asked once they'd settled into the clearing, swinging his wooden sword in a figure eight.

"Me and you on Kurt and Blaine?" David reiterated as he lifted up his weapon of choice, a large two-handed wooden sword.

"And as usual, we're going to win." Kurt said, twirling his staff in front of him.

"A touch of the opponents weapon means you're done." Blaine stated as he smiled at his and Kurt's opponents, holding his two swords in his unique underhand position.

"Okay, then. Ready? Three, two, one...GO!" Wes shouted, dashing towards Kurt.

Kurt quickly reacted to Wes's sudden advance with the skill of a well-trained martial artist. He gracefully sidestepped to the right, avoiding Wes's hasty swing at his left shoulder. In a split second,he spun around and swept at Wes's calves with the end of his staff. Wes swiftly blocked Kurt's swing with the tip of his sword and deflected it, stunning Kurt for a split second as he regained his balance.

A few feet away, Blaine and David were also locked in combat, David making strategic swings with his heavier sword as Blaine deflected each approach with swings of his own. While blocking one of David's weaker horizontal attacks with one of his swords, Blaine quickly swung the other at David's midsection, hoping to land a hit for an easy victory. David, however, wasn't one to go down so easily, and dodged Blaine's sword by digging his own into the ground and pushing off backwards.

"Didn't think you'd win that easily, did you?" David taunted, pulling himself back into his starting stance.

"A guy can hope." Blaine chuckled before lunging at David for another attack.

Meanwhile, the match between Kurt and Wes continued to rage on, as Kurt barely dodged a stab at his chest by his opponent. In the split second he jumped back, Kurt noticed that he wasn't to far from where David was blocking a few of Blaine's blows. Acting quickly, he sprinted to David and thrust his staff at the small of his back, landing a successful hit before Wes was able to stop him.

"Fuck!" shouted David at the contact before he walked away from his three still-sparring friends. Kurt and Blaine then began to gang up on Wes, but a slip in Blaine's footing put his shoulder directly in the range of Wes's sword. Wes tapped him briskly and lightly, then brought all his attention back to Kurt.

"Dammit..." Blaine muttered under his breath, making his way to stand next to David.

"Just you and me, Kurtie-kins" Wes panted as he and Kurt had a stand-off, circling as their weapons were pointed at one another.

"It appears so." Kurt breathed in response. "And if you ever call me that again, you'll have hell to pay."

The two merely stared each other down for a few moments, then Kurt rushed forward to swing his staff.

The two boys on the sidelines loudly cheered for their sparring partners.

"Come on, Kurt!"

"Whoop his ass, Wes!"

The sounds of the weapons clashing filled the air, both Kurt and Wes moving at only precisely the correct moments to block the others' advances. After what seemed like an eternity of blocking and dodging from the both of them, Kurt finally found an opening and landed a hit on Wes's right thigh.

"VICTORY!" Blaine yelled from the sidelines, straight into a cringing David's ear.

"God, Blaine." David clutched his ear and slapped Blaine on the shoulder. "If that didn't make me deaf, I don't know what will."

"Ahh, you know I went easy on you guys." Wes stated as he walked to join Blaine and David, still panting from his final movements against Kurt.

"Yes, if you were going easy on us, then I'm straight as an arrow." Kurt mocked, spinning his staff at his side. David and Blaine laughed in response as Wes blushed and muttered to himself.

"I take it someone wants a rematch." Blaine observed, poking Wes in the shoulder with his sword. Wes silently waved the sword away and turned his back, instigating more laughter from his three friends.

"Wait, guys." David suddenly became serious and whipped his head in the direction of the deep woods.

Kurt squinted in the direction David was looking. "What is-"

"Shhh!" David hissed, putting his index finger to his mouth. He walked over to the edge of the clearing, as if listening closely to something. A few seconds passed before he gestured for the other three to join him.

As Kurt stepped closer to David, he could vaguely make out voices coming from the direction of the deep woods. He wasn't close enough to distinguish what they were saying, however, so he stepped a bit farther into the woods and hid behind a large berry bush. The others quickly followed and kneeled beside him.

"All I'm saying is, I'm not sure if today's the right time!"

"And who are you to say that it isn't?"

"Oh, no, Prince Dustin, I didn't mean it like that at all, I just-"

"Silence, Jesse. We will execute the ambush tonight, as I had originally intended."

Kurt gasped and exchanged a glance with the other three boys. It seemed to be that the men talking were none other than Captain Jesse, the overseer of the entire Warbler campground, and Prince Dustin, the notoriously malicious and twisted son of King Solomon Goolsby.

"Did he just say _Prince Dustin_?" David mouthed incredulously. Kurt nodded and held up a finger for him to wait as he continued to listen in on the faraway conversation.

"...and I'll gather the soldiers immediately, sir."

"You are dismissed. I'll meet you at our predetermined meeting place after the plan is finished, correct?"

"Of course, sir. Once everyone has been evacuated."

"And remember: McKinley must be blamed for the attack. Spread the word."

The boys remained silent for a few minutes until the retreating footsteps faded, leaving only the sounds of rustling trees.

"What the hell was that?" Wes finally voiced, the four still unmoving from their hiding place behind the berry bush.

"I think...I think they're planning some sort of attack." David said slowly, still processing the bits of the conversation he'd just overheard. "But who are they ambushing?"

"Well, they can't possibly pull off an attack on McKinley today." Kurt pointed out, visualizing a map of Ohio in his head. "Even with our close location to the border, gathering and mobilizing the troops alone would take at least a few hours, and it's almost evening." Kurt directed everyone's attention to the setting sun in the distance.

"Even if they could, why would they blame McKinley? I know there's been some dispute over the whole 'peace treaty' thing, but you can't resolve that by saying a country's ambushed itself. It'd only spark investigation, not to mention it'd be extremely inconvenient." Blaine wondered, scratching his head.

"The peace treaty hasn't even been signed by Dalton yet, so we might as well just attack them if we want to. There's no need to cover it up." Wes added as the boys all contemplated the situation.

"But we can't just attack, Wes." Kurt stated. "There are so many Dalton advocates for the peace treaty to end the petty McKinley-Dalton disputes over the border that it would have to be McKinley that starts the..." Kurt trailed off, his eyes widening in realization.

"No, they can't..." David whispered.

"Guys...I think we're going to get ambushed tonight." Kurt whispered urgently. "By our own men."

* * *

><p>The four Warblers-in-training sprinted through the trees, dodging branches and jumping over roots and rocks as they cleared the distance to the campsite in record time.<p>

"We have to tell the others!" Blaine panted once they reached the first tent. Everything around the campsite seemed to be calm as usual, with a few soldiers starting up campfires as the sun began to set.

"Blaine and I can get the tents on the left, and you guys can get the ones on the right. We'll meet in the center!" Kurt commanded, grasping Blaine's hand and starting to run, but not before he was stopped by a hand grasping the back of his uniform.

"Kurt..." Wes started solemnly, clutching the fabric of Kurt's jacket. "I think it's too late."

A burst of fire from the other end of the campsite lit up the already-pink sky, accompanied by several shouts and screams. Within an instant, the entire camp went into a frenzy, soldiers running in a panic as they tried to gather their possessions before running from the flames. Several men sprinted by the four boys, not giving the campsite a second glance as they ran into the forest.

"We have to get out of here." David said just before another burst of flame rose from a faraway tent.

"No, I have to get back to the tent!" Kurt yelled, trying to speak over the loud sounds of the soldiers as they frantically escaped the burning campsite. Kurt tried to run forward, but was unable to as Wes's hand never let go of his uniform.

"There's no time!" Wes yelled, pulling Kurt back to the forest to follow the many soldiers running past them.

"But my staff!" Kurt screamed, breaking free of Wes's grasp and turning to him. "It was my last gift from my father! I have to go back and get it!"

"Wes, you and David run into the forest! I'll go with Kurt and we'll meet you wherever everyone ends up going, okay?" Blaine reasoned loudly, before earning a nod from both Wes and David.

"Fine. But both of you," Wes said, his voice just barely heard, "Be safe, alright?"

"We will, I promise." Kurt replied, starting to pull Blaine towards the tents.

"We'll see you later!" David yelled before he and Wes ran off into the trees with the rest of the Warblers-in-training.

Kurt hesitated for a second and looked past Blaine to see that Wes and David were no longer in sight.

"Let's go." Kurt loudly declared, pulling Blaine into the chaos of the camp.

Their tent was located near the middle of the campsite, only a few tents west of the Captain's tent in the very center. The two boys swerved through throngs of evacuating boys and men, all of whom were headed southward, towards the forest. They passed by scenes of fighting soldiers, men dressed in all black against boys clad in Warbler blazers. A few Warblers-in-training lay on the ground, groaning and bloodied or not moving at all. Kurt almost stopped to help one with a broken leg, but was pulled along by Blaine, reminded that at that moment, his own life was all that mattered.

"The ND! They've ambushed us!" A soldier groaned from the ground beside a tent.

"It's McKinley!" Another soldier yelled as he ran past. Kurt and Blaine gave each other a knowing look as they continued to run.

Finally after what seemed to be the longest sprint Kurt had ever taken, he and Blaine reached their tent and dashed inside. Luckily, the fires spread from the north end of the campsite around to the east end, so their tent hadn't been damaged at all. Kurt ran to his bed and swiftly pulled a long black staff out from underneath the bed frame. He took a moment to run his hand down the intricately carved patterns and sharp metal ends before sliding it into a lightweight, yet sturdy wooden case that was then attached to his back using leather straps. He met Blaine back by the entrance, who had his own metal twin swords tucked into their holsters on both sides of his hips.

"You weren't the only one who wanted his weapons, you know." Blaine smirked, before he grabbed Kurt's hand once again and pulled him back out into the chaos.

At this point, almost all of the other soldiers had either evacuated the premises or had been wounded fighting, leaving a relatively silent campground. The sun was still setting, as the ambush didn't take all that long, but Kurt felt as if something else was amiss.

"Look, they've stopped setting the tents on fire." Blaine observed, pointing to the east end of the camp. It was true, Kurt noticed, as the flames seemed to be dying down over the burning tents.

"It seems everything went according to plan, Prince Dustin."

Kurt pulled Blaine behind a nearby crate and crouched down as the voice approached.

"It's perfect, isn't it? Now they'll all run off to wherever it is they're going and spread the news of an ambush by McKinley. Upon hearing this, there's no way any of those government fools will ever sign that pitiful peace treaty."

Kurt peeked out over the crate to see six men walking beside a tent, perfectly calm. One brunette he recognized immediately as Captain Jesse St. James, who was talking to a black-haired man Kurt assumed to be Prince Dustin. The other four men looked to be fully-trained Warblers, standing as if they were bodyguards to the other two men.

"But they'll never know it was actually us, will they...Hey! You over there!" Jesse's plotting was suddenly interrupted by his own yelling, pointing directly to Kurt and Blaine's hiding spot behind the crate. Kurt ducked down as quickly as possible, but not before the four Warblers hoisted him and Blaine up and out into the open.

"Shit..." Kurt muttered as he and Blaine are led out in front of Jesse and Dustin. They'd been caught.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Dustin asked, a cruel smile upon his features. Kurt had only heard of Prince Dustin's menacing features and personality before this encounter, and he'd already confirmed every horrible story he'd heard about him. The man's few words sounded as if they were laced with poison, and every feature of his face appeared to be pointed and dangerous, from his spiky black hair to his fang-like teeth. His body was tall and muscular, so large that Kurt wondered if the prince was even human. In short, Kurt had never been more terrified of any man in his life, and he'd only said less than ten words to him. "A couple of little Warblers, perhaps knowing a little more than they ought to?"

Kurt swore he saw Dustin's tongue dart out over his teeth as if he were a snake, hungry for prey.

"N-No sir-"

"That'll be Prince Dustin to you, hobbit." Dustin interrupted, cutting off Blaine's stammering.

"No, Prince Dustin," Blaine began, his voice shaking with fear, "We just wanted to go back to our tent to get some of our things. To save them from the McKinley ambush."

"Ahh, McKinley you say? I think you and I both know that you're lying." Dustin snickered, taking a step closer to the two struggling boys. "What do you say we save you from the...misery of knowing too much?"

Kurt's pounding heart caught in his throat as he watched Dustin unsheathe a large two-handed sword from his belt, smiling cruelly.

"Prince Dustin, I don't think you have to-"

"SILENCE, JESSE!" Dustin pointed the tip of his sword to Jesse's throat, who cowered in fear. "We don't want word getting out about this, do we? And to prevent that, we must dispose of these two properly..."

Kurt took the split second of opportunity to make a bold, crazy and adrenaline-fueled escape from the Warblers holding him. Using his arms to help propel him, he jumped up off the ground and kicked both the men in the groin, causing both to double over in pain. Hearing two more groans from his right, Kurt saw that Blaine had done the same, and since the Warblers never bothered to take away their weapons, they immediately turned and made a break for it.

"You fools! Don't let them get away!" Dustin shouted at the fallen Warblers as their captives sprinted away.

Kurt and Blaine swerved through the tents in the opposite direction of Dustin and Jesse, not really knowing which way they were running. They threw crates and supplies behind them to block their trail, with Kurt even collapsing a tent or two on the way with the blunt end of his unsheathed staff. The footsteps following them faded farther and farther away, and it wasn't until the two began to run up a familiar incline that they finally realized which direction they were running in.

The two boys stopped, the wind whistling as it blew by them, the sun finally finished setting and the darkness and starlight settling in.

"Of all the places we had to run to, of course we end of here." Kurt gasped incredulously, looking over the edge of the cliff into the river below.

"Well, it looks like we have no choice, do we?" Blaine asked, joining Kurt as he looked down at the rushing water.

"No way, Blaine. We are not jumping into the river. The current's too strong! We'll never make it!" Kurt practically yelled, taking a step back from the edge.

"Kurt. We don't have any time. Any second now, Dustin and Jesse and their goons are going to find us. It's either we jump or we die here, Kurt!" Blaine took Kurt's shoulders and shook him as he yelled in panic.

"What if we don't make it, Blaine?" Kurt turned away and leaned against the rock near the cliff's entrance, looking at the ground.

"Well, at least we have a chance of making it!" Blaine cried out with exasperation. "Kurt, don't be an idiot, okay? We'll make it, we'll be fine, and we'll go back to Lima and see 'Cedes again, alright?"

At the mention of Mercedes, his and Blaine's childhood best friend, Kurt made up his mind.

"Fine, Blaine. I'll jump. But what if we end up in different places? What if we're not together?"

Kurt heard distant voices approaching the cliff side and the sound of running soldiers.

"Well, then, let's make a pact. If somehow we get separated," Blaine drew out one of his swords and made his way to the large stone, "We'll meet back up at this spot. That way, we'll be reunited." Blaine gently pulled Kurt off of the rock and struck it with his sword, creating a gash on its smooth face.

"Promise, Kurt?" Blaine asked, putting away his sword.

After a moment of contemplation, Kurt pulled his staff out from its wooden casing and struck the stone in the opposite direction, creating an "X".

"I promise, Blaine." Kurt whispered, placing the staff back into its casing.

The voices in the distance grew louder, as if they'd approach the cliff any second.

Kurt and Blaine linked hands and walked to the edge of the cliff. They looked at one another, and Kurt stared straight into Blaine's beautiful hazel eyes for what may have been the last time. Then he did something he never even imagined he would ever do.

Kurt suddenly wrapped his free hand around the back of Blaine's head and kissed him, the impulsive connection full of fear and desperation, but mixed with just as much passion and longing.

"There they are! On the cliff!"

Kurt didn't even have time to process his sudden actions before he and Blaine's lips separated and the two leaped of the edge of the cliff and into the raging waters below.


	3. McKinley

**AN: Hello! So, just a quick note for anyone who read the first chapter of this story before today. If you happened to read the entire thing before, you probably saw that I had written it all in present tense. However, for some reason, halfway through this chapter I started automatically typing in past tense, and it actually became a challenge for me to write in present tense for some reason. No clue why o-o**

**So, yeah. I changed all (at least I hope all) the verb tenses in the first chapter (but not the intro because I'm too lazy for that xD) to past tense, and that is how I made this chapter as well.**

**I'm also sorry that this chapter is short and kind of uneventful...I just had to get this out of the way before the plot gets interesting in the next few chapters. :) So thanks for bearing with me!**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy and FOX**

Kurt's eyes fluttered open just enough for the blinding sunlight to cause his already-stinging eyes to ache. His soaking body was sprawled out on what felt like damp rocks, several of which were digging straight into the sides of his spine. The sounds of the rushing river and chirping birds were all Kurt could faintly hear, as his ears were clogged with water from the river.

Though it pained him to do so, Kurt opened his eyes a bit wider to get a view of his surroundings. The sunlight caused his head to throb, but he continued to open his eyes anyway. His head was tilted to his right, facing directly towards the river and to the lush greenery on its opposite side.

Just then, Kurt felt something stick into his back, as is he was being poked by a thin rod of some sort. He would've moved out of its way, but his head was throbbing too much to allow for much movement.

"Ow!" Kurt exclaimed when the object prodded a little bit too hard into his back.

"Holy crap he's alive!" yelled a voice from behind. Startled, Kurt instinctively turned his body around and into a sitting position, immediately regretting it as he felt the strain on both his already-aching head and his bruised limbs. His heart beat fast in his chest from the surprise.

Kurt didn't respond at first, but instead looked up at the man who'd spoken. Before him stood two men, one tall and blonde sporting a deep blue jacket with a high collar, and the other shorter and stockier, a brunette in a deep brown leather jacket. The brunette had a shocked expression on his face, and held a long, thin tree branch beside him.

Kurt watched as the blonde man spoke, smacking his companion on the back of the head. "Of course he's alive, you dolt. He was breathing when we got here."

Kurt painfully chuckled, realizing that the two of them reminded him of Wes and David a bit in that small mannerism.

Wait. Wes and David. The ambush. Blaine.

Suddenly, all the events of the night before came rushing back into Kurt's mind in a jumble of thoughts and confusion. Everything from sparring in the woods to overhearing Dustin's plans and even-Kurt took in a sharp breath-kissing Blaine before the jump into the river.

Hearing Kurt's apparently loud intake of air, the two men suddenly turned all their attention on the lost Warbler, tilting their heads in curiosity.

"What?" Kurt asked impatiently in a raspy voice after staring back at the two men for a few moments.

"Oh, sorry." The blonde began, "We're just not really used to Warblers washing up onshore, you know?"

"Yeah, it's not exactly the norm." The brunette agreed, nodding his head.

"Wait...where am I, exactly?" Kurt asked a bit loudly, regaining the use of his normal tone of voice. He didn't remember anything that had happened after jumping into the river, so he had no idea where he was or how he ended up there. He tilted his head downwards and examined his drenched clothing.

"You're in McKinley, just outside the McKinley Military Fortress." The brunette said proudly as he gestured to the surroundings. "We won't have to ask you where you're from, Dalton Warbler, seeing as you're still in uniform."

Great. Of all the places to wash up, Kurt landed right in the middle of enemy territory, beside their main military headquarters, no less. All he could think about was how far the center of McKinley was from Lima and how many days it would take for him to get back home. Mercedes must've been worried sick after hearing about the ambush, and Blaine...well, he didn't even know if he'd survived the jump.

"Did you guys happen to see another Warbler float by here at all?" Kurt snapped his head back up suddenly, again regretting his sudden movements as pain shot through his head and neck. With a slight whimper of pain, he slowly brought his arm up to rub the back of his neck.  
>"No, sorry. We just got here a few minutes ago before you woke up." The blonde replied seriously.<p>

"How did you end up here anyway, Warbler?" The brunette questioned as he leaned on the tree branch he was holding, which promptly snapped and almost sent him tumbling to the ground. The blonde let out a sigh, but still chuckled slightly.

"First of all, my name is Kurt." Kurt began, attempting to stand up, but failing upon feeling the aches all over his arms and legs. "And my friend and I had to jump into the river to escape from an ambush on our training camp."

"Whoa, wait. Someone ambushed a Warbler camp?" The brunette gasped. "But I thought there were peace treaties established between all of the provinces. That is, except between McKinley and Dalton, but we didn't plan an attack or anything."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at the brunette's last statement. Were these two soldiers for the ND?  
>The blonde noticed Kurt's confusion. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Jeff Sterling and this one right here is Nick Duval. We're the current leaders of the McKinley Military Fortress and commanders of the ND, which I assume is safe to tell you right now, since you probably don't have any other Warblers to come and attack us or anything."<p>

So not only had Kurt woken up on the banks of a river in the middle of McKinley, he'd also managed to be found by two of the highest-ranking officials of the rival country. Just his luck.

Kurt finally managed to summon up the strength to painfully lift himself out of his sitting position and to standing on two feet on the damp and slippery rocks. He took a few tentative steps and was pleasantly surprised that he was actually able to move around without collapsing to the ground.

"Well, it was very nice to meet the both of you," Kurt began, walking with a slight limp in the direction up the river. "So I'll best be going home now."  
>Kurt trudged up the river bank for a few steps before more pain shot up his right leg, causing him to stop for a moment and breathe heavily before taking a few more steps.<p>

"Wait, where do you think you're going?" Kurt heard Nick shout out from behind him.

"Back home to Dalton." Kurt calmly replied as he continued limping.

"First of all, you're a well-trained enemy soldier. We can't just have you running loose around McKinley. Second of all, there is no way in hell you're making a trip all the way back to Dalton in that condition." Nick responded.

Kurt felt a hand firmly, but not harshly, grab his wrist, turning around to look Jeff in the eyes.

"Look, Kurt. We may be enemies, but we're not unreasonable." Jeff gave him a small smile. "We'll give you a place to stay and recover for a little while, then we'll let you go back to Dalton when you're fit for travel. Also..." Jeff gave a once-over of Kurt's uniform, "You're going to have to tell us what happened at that ambush. Something seems off about it, so I want to hear the whole story."

Desperate to return home, but too tired and weak to argue with any of Jeff's logic, Kurt forced his legs to turn him around and scuffed his feet along the ground as he walked behind Jeff, who had let go of his wrist and was whispering something into Nick's ear as the brunette glanced back at Kurt for a split second.

"Wait." Kurt suddenly stopped his zombie-like walk right as they were about to leave the riverbank. Something seemed strange, as if he was missing something. He ran a hand to his back to realize that his staff was gone, holster and all.

"What's up?" Nick stopped as well and turned to Kurt. Jeff, however, kept walking at the slow pace, turning so Kurt could see the impatient look on his face.

"When you got to the river, did you happen to see a staff lying around somewhere?" Kurt asked. It was a long shot that the staff had actually washed up beside him on the riverbank, but it was worth asking in case it had.

"No, we only found you, but you never know. It could be in the bushes or something." Nick said as he ran back to the river, inspecting the ground.

Jeff finally stopped walking and turned to the other two. "It's highly unlikely that it would've washed up-"

"Found it!" Nick yelled from the river before Kurt could reach him. He held up the staff still in its casing, the leather straps hanging off its end.

"That was fast..." Jeff murmured as Nick swung the staff over his back and headed back to join him and Kurt.

"Thanks, Nick." Kurt said, reaching for his weapon off the back of the McKinley general.

"Oh, no. You're technically our prisoner, Warbler. I'm not giving you this baby back 'till we let you go." Nick stated as he stepped to put the staff out of Kurt's reach. Kurt would've argued against him, but he simply didn't have the energy or strength to do so, so he settled with pouting and continuing his walk.

"The Fort isn't too far from here." Jeff turned and began walking backwards so he was facing Kurt. "It's only about a ten minute walk or so."

Kurt groaned. It was only a short distance, but his aching limbs pained him a bit more with every step he took.

"So, do you mind telling us exactly what happened to you up at your camp?" asked Jeff as the three walked down a narrow dirt path in a large field of grass. Since McKinley was mostly made up of farmland, the majority of the landscape was flat and open, with a few woodsy areas scattered here and there, as well as the occasional small body of water.

Kurt debated whether or not to tell the two men the entire story of the previous night. Whether he didn't want to tell him because they were technically the enemy or if he simply didn't want to remember the night's events was beyond him. A minute of thinking led him to the conclusion that he really had nothing to lose. After all, all Kurt wanted to do was get back home to Lima and find Blaine, and telling his captors the information they wanted would help him to gain their trust enough to be freed earlier.

Kurt told the two ND Generals everything he remembered, watching their eyes widen in shock when he mentioned the part about Dustin planning the entire ambush on his own troops. The men stayed silent, only nodding their heads and frowning slightly during the rest of the story. Kurt concluded his story with his and Blaine's jump into the river, omitting the kiss, of course.  
>"Wow...I mean, I'd heard rumors about Dustin before but that is just..." Jeff commented once Kurt had finished his tale.<p>

"Evil. Just pure evil." Nick finished seriously.

"It looks like we'll have to prepare the troops." Jeff sighed. "If Dalton thinks that we ambushed them, they're bound to attack us any day now."

"Well, we'll have to get started immediately, since we're here." Nick pointed out as the three stopped in front of a large wooden wall.

Nick and Jeff led Kurt along the wall until they reached a gap, through which they were admitted by several guards, all greeting their generals with a courteous tip of their hats.  
>"I will never get tired of that." Nick laughed, stopping in front of the large building confined within the walls.<p>

In front of Kurt stood a large, wooden building that reminded him somewhat of a mansion. The building only had two floors, and the second floor had a balcony that ran along the front, passing underneath a large red and white flag. Around that were several tall watchtowers facing outwards over the large wall surrounding the perimeter of the military base's grounds.

"Welcome to the McKinley Military Fortress." Jeff gestured to the building and its surrounding grounds.

"But we just like to call it The Fort for short." Nick added, proudly gazing up at the red and white flag hanging in the center of the main building.

"Come on, we'll take you to your cell where you'll be staying." Jeff began to lead Kurt up to a large set of double doors beneath the building's balcony. "I know, it doesn't sound very comfortable, but I assure you that you'll be fine in there for a few days."

"You are our prisoner, after all." Nick mentioned as he pushed open the doors.

Kurt didn't really care where he was made to stay. He would sleep on the floor if he had to. He just needed a break from the walking and somewhere to rest his bruised body.

As Kurt stepped into The Fort after Nick and Jeff, the first thing he noticed was the sudden cacophony of noise, which didn't help the throbbing headache he'd had since he'd woken up at all. Men, women and children of all ages, shapes and sizes crowded the room, some standing and talking, others running about from place to place. In one corner, an older soldier was demonstrating some movements with a sword to several younger boys, who Kurt assumed to be pupils of some sort. Across the room Kurt spotted an area that looked like a bar, with men and women drinking happily at several small tables lined up against the far wall. The place looked more to Kurt like a huge party as opposed to a military base.

"I'd like to say that the place isn't usually this chaotic," Nick began, yelling over all the noise, "but then I'd be lying!"

"This way, Kurt!" Jeff yelled from Kurt's left, weaving a path through the crowds of people. Most greeted and Jeff and Nick as they walked by, saluting them, giving them a wave, or in one woman's case, practically tackling Nick in a giant hug.

"Where have you two been? I was worried sick!" the woman yelled as she cut off Nick air circulation. It wasn't until Jeff pulled her off of the frazzled brunette that Nick was able to breathe again.

"Calm down, Rose. It's all okay." Jeff said as he gently hugged the older woman. Kurt assumed her to be around fifty years of age, with a few gray streaks in her long, wavy black hair.

"And who is this here? A Warbler?" The woman who was apparently named Rose asked, focusing her attention on Kurt, who stayed silent even as she sent him a questioning glance.

"Oh, right. Rose, this is Kurt, a Warbler whose camp was ambushed and was washed up along the river." Nick introduced. "Kurt, this is Rose, who I like to call our residential mother."

"Really, she's just supposed to be in charge of the bar, but she likes taking care of everyone a little too much." Jeff added.

"Ambushed? By whom?" Rose questioned Kurt, ignoring Jeff's comment.

Just as Kurt began to open his mouth, Nick interjected. "We're having a meeting later. An important one with the full military force. We'll explain everything then."

"Okay, I'll spread the word." Rose nodded, slightly worried, and began to make her way back towards the bar. "Oh, and Kurt, deary, please get yourself some rest. You look absolutely exhausted."

"Will do." were the only words Kurt managed to mutter out, suddenly realizing how surprising it was that Rose hadn't been hostile towards him in the least, despite him being their enemy. He supposed it was just some sort of McKinley thing, to be hospitable. He watched as the black-haired woman walked away into the crowd.

"Your cell's going to be right through this door and down the flight of steps." Kurt placed his attention back on Jeff, who had just opened up a door in the side of the room that led down to darkness. "Nick and I will take you down there so you can get some rest while we gather up the meeting. Everyone's going to have to hear about the ambush so we can prepare for a possible Dalton attack."

Kurt nodded and followed the two men down the stairs to a room containing three or so unoccupied jail cells, dimly lit by a lamp in the middle of the room. Jeff pulled our a ring of keys and used one to open the cell directly to the right of the stairwell and led Kurt in.  
>The room was scarcely furnished and small, as all jail cells were expected to be. However, Kurt didn't really care about the room at all, but just about the bed in the corner that was looking comfier by the second. Without a word, Kurt stepped into the cell and heard the door lock, then promptly fell onto the bed for some well-needed rest.<p>

"Sweet dreams, Kurtie-kins!" Nick jokingly yelled as he headed back up the stairs.

"Don't call me that, or you'll have hell to pay." Kurt muttered to himself, barely audibly, right before he drifted off to sleep.


	4. The Fort

**AN: I know, I know, I said that there'd be more action and plot and whatever in this chapter. But really, the majority of this is just filler. I PROMISE things will move faster (well, anything's really faster than this) after this chapter. I just had a random stroke of writing inspiration and I just sat down and wrote all of this and now it's past one in the morning so I'm rambling in this AN.**

**Oh, and if you feel compelled to, please leave a review, whether it's bad or good...I just like to know that people are actually reading what I'm putting up and not just stumbling upon it by accident xD**

**I do not own Glee :P**

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Kurt abruptly awoke in what he thought to be an unfamiliar setting. This time, however, he was lying atop a mattress instead of across the damp rocks of a river, and he'd actually known where he was within a minute or so of consciousness.

The holding cell was shrouded in pitch-black darkness, rendering Kurt unable to see even his own hand in front of his face. The lack of windows in the basement complex made it so Kurt had no idea of the time, and therefore unable to decide what exactly he should do with his time now that he was awake and fully coherent.

Kurt turned over in the thin blanket covering his still uniform-clad body. He could still feel some of the pain that he remembered from when he'd woken up beside the river, but most of it had dulled down, allowing him to move without agony.

Kurt sat up and propped his head up on his elbows. Now that he had a bit of time to spare, he finally had the chance to think through everything that had happened at the Warbler camp during the ambush. Immediately an endless number of questions began to rush to his head. What were the Warblers going to do now that they believe McKinley ambushed them? Did anyone else know that the attack had been planned by Prince Dustin himself? Did Wes and David make it out of the campsite okay? Did Blaine survive the jump into the river as well?

The thought of Blaine caused a lump to form in Kurt's throat. Just before the jump, he'd finally kissed the boy he'd been in love with as long as he could remember, and now there was a chance that he'd never see the boy in question ever again.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Kurt harshly whispered to himself as he punched the wall beside him. Why did he have to kiss Blaine right before he jumped? Sure, it was in the heat of the moment, but leaving everything as it was would've made losing him so much easier. Kurt would've just continued with expecting that Blaine had thought of him as nothing more than just a close friend.

But he had to go and kiss him, and Blaine just had to go and kiss him back just as passionately. Now Kurt was left to wonder if Blaine kissed back in surprise, or if he wanted to. What if he'd responded the way he did out of pity for Kurt? Maybe he just felt bad that his best friend had feelings for him and didn't want to ruin things in the last few seconds they had left together. Blaine was, after all, notorious for thinking of others a little bit too much before himself.

Kurt let out a groan and repositioned himself so that his back was leaning against the wall. Trying to stray his thoughts from Blaine, he tried to figure out what his plan of action was once the ND released him from captivity. Was he going to go back to Dalton and the Warblers to finish up his training? No, that wasn't an option, as he already had Captain Jesse and Prince Dustin as enemies for knowing the truth about the ambush. Maybe he could find some way to sneak back into Dalton and find a way to Lima. Then he and Mercedes could run off somewhere together, maybe finding a place to live in one of the small border towns on the edge of McKinley, where 'Cedes could be close enough to Dalton to visit her family, and Kurt could be outside the borders so as to not get hunted down by the Dalton royalty.

But the question crept back up into Kurt's mind, no matter how hard he tried not to think about it: What if Blaine was still alive?

Kurt imagined embarking on a long expedition to find his lost friend, walking along the river and the towns along it until he found Blaine. However, it would take months, if not years, to fully search each and every town on both sides of the river.

"Ughh!" Kurt sighed in exasperation, burying his face in his hands. Just then, from the corner of his eye, Kurt watched as the center lamp of the basement lit up, revealing the silhouettes of two people.

Kurt's eyes fully adjusted to the light just as his cell door was unlocked, allowing the entry of two men. The shorter man of the two then proceeded to light the lamp inside the cell, giving Kurt a clear view of the two.

The taller of the two was a young dirty blonde with short hair with a thin body but muscular arms emphasized by a sleeveless shirt. He wore a friendly face, smiling at Kurt fondly as he saw him. Kurt smiled weakly back.

"Ah, so you must be Kurt." The dirty blonde said, "My name's Frederick. Jeff and Nick sent me down here to give you some work to do while you stay. After all, we can never let an extra set of arms and legs go to waste here at The Fort!" He finished a little too cheerily for Kurt's taste.

The shorter man by the lamp coughed loudly.

"Oh, and this here is Kyle. He's new here, so he was sent to shadow me for a few days to get a feel for the place." Frederick chuckled, turning to Kyle as he stepped into the light, giving Kurt a chance to look at his features.

Kyle turned out not to be a man at all, but a teenage boy of what looked to be fifteen or sixteen years old. He had a long mop of black hair falling over his face, obscuring his eyes from Kurt's view.

"Nice to meet you." Kyle nodded in Kurt's direction. How he managed to see through his hair, Kurt didn't know.

"Nice to meet you both as well." Kurt responded politely, remaining in his seated position on his bed.

"Okay, so first thing's first." Frederick began, still smiling at Kurt. Why in the world was he so happy? "We've got a clean set of clothes for you outside the cell. They're just some spare clothes we keep around for new recruits, but since you're kind of our prisoner, they'll have to do. Afterwards, we have a few errands around The Fort to get done that we need help with, especially with all the preparations going on..."

"Preparations?" Kurt questioned. He remembered vaguely that Jeff had mentioned something about a meeting before he'd fallen asleep.

"Well, thanks to you and your helpful information about Dalton, we're expecting an attack on McKinley anytime soon." Kyle explained, pride evident in his voice as he knew of the happenings of the ND.

"And by preparations, since Nick and Jeff run the place, that basically means everyone's running around in a panic trying to gather up as many weapons and as much armor as they can in the shortest amount of time possible." Frederick added. "So, anyway, because of that, I'm going to have you tidy up some of the storage closets the soldiers have already ripped apart as well as clean up a few oil spills that have been sitting around on the ground for a few days now."

"Sounds good." Kurt replied. Honestly, he was sort of excited to do some work. Some good old fashioned hard labor would provide a distraction from all his thoughts and questions for a while, as well as let him stretch his sore muscles.

Just then, out of nowhere, Kurt's stomach let out a huge growl, causing Kurt to blush.

Frederick laughed once again. "Oh, yeah. And as a bit of incentive for working, we have a saying around here."

"You mean you have a saying..." Kurt heard Kyle mumble under his breath.

Frederick apparently had heard Kyle as well, since he gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. "No work, no eat. You do your chores for the day, and you get three square meals. If you don't finish or if I find your work unsatisfactory, you either fix it up and eat, or leave it unfinished and starve. That clear?"

Kurt nodded his head right as his stomach let out another unpleasant growl.

"Well, it looks like we better get you started right away, then." Frederick said, still chipper and happy much to Kurt's confusion.

"Just wondering," Kurt began as he slid off the edge of his bed, "what time is it, exactly?"

"I'd say it's around seven or eight at night." Kyle replied. "Nick and Jeff brought you back sometime around nine in the morning, so you were sleeping for a while."

Kurt had a feeling that he'd be up late that night, his sleeping schedule completely thrown off.

* * *

><p>The night passed by uneventfully, with Kurt putting all the effort physically possible into the work that Frederick had given him to do. Lucky for Kurt, the work wasn't so easy, either, as the supply rooms looked as if a tornado had blown through each and every one of them. Crates were overturned and on their sides, scattered across each room, making the closets almost impossible to navigate, let alone organize. Thankfully, Kurt's organizational skills had always been in top shape, so the process of cleaning up wasn't so excruciating. The oil spills had also been easy to clean, and Frederick had even let Kurt keep the oily rag as what Frederick called "a souvenir for your first day of ND work". It had only taken Kurt a few hours to finish all the chores, so he had been settled down in his cell afterwards with a plate of soup,carrots and bread. What he didn't expect, however, was for both Frederick and Kyle, who had been supervising him throughout the day, to sit and eat with him on the floor of his cell.<p>

"Why are you staying here? Don't you have somewhere else you need to be?" Kurt asked sincerely. Throughout his day of work, he'd become more comfortable around Frederick and Kyle, becoming slightly more accustomed to Frederick's seemingly permanent cheerfulness and Kyle's lack of conversation, and he had to admit, they were fairly nice people to be around.

"Nah. My job here is basically being 'Head of Housekeeping' as Nick calls it, so really my only assignment right now is to watch over you and make sure you don't get into trouble." Frederick replied before taking a sip of his soup.

A short silence followed, with only the sounds of silverware against bowls and plates being heard throughout the basement.

"So, Frederick, what brought you to join the army?" Kurt asked in an attempt to start a conversation.

"I was born and raised in a little town called Vogyl, not too far from here." Frederick had a faraway look in his eyes upon mentioning his hometown.

"I think I've heard of it before." Kurt tried to remember why he recognized the name of the town.

"Well, it's sort of well-known for being a prominent place for traveling performers to stop by in. It's a fairly artistic place." Frederick took a bite of his carrots.

"Right! One of my good friends from home's mother is a traveling singer, so I bet she's mentioned Vogyl in passing." Kurt remembered listening to Mercedes's mom's tales of her travels all around Ohio. He remembered her tales of all of the places in the nation, from the tiny towns such as Vogyl to the grand cities in Diamant and Crawford.

"Yeah, so I grew up there with my parents and my little brother, Adam. My mom ran a local inn while my dad went out into the forest to hunt. He'd sell the meat and pelts of the animals to merchants passing by, and the two of them were saving up their money to hopefully one day send me and Adam over to Crawford once we were old enough."

"So why didn't you go there?"

"When I was about fifteen, probably about Kyle's age here, and Adam was about ten or eleven, my dad got into a bit of an accident with a wild boar in the forest. Thankfully, he survived, but the injuries were so bad that we had to send for a doctor all the way from Diamant. Needless to say, that cost us quite a bit of money, and it basically drained all the savings we had to send me to school.

"About a year later, when i was sixteen, I saw an ad tacked up to a tree that said that the ND was recruiting, with an age minimum of sixteen. The recruitment included free room and board, food, training as well as pay that could be sent directly to the family. I went home that day and did some calculations, and I found out that if I joined the army immediately, I could save up enough money to send Adam to Crawford by the time he turned sixteen, the minimum age to board there. It took a bit of convincing, but I got my parents to let me join, and I've now been working here for almost eight years."

"And what happened to Adam?"

If it was possible for Frederick's smile to grow any wider, it did right after Kurt asked that question. "I ended up making enough for Adam to go to Crawford, where he studied to become a doctor. Now he lives in McKinley, helping to give healthcare to many poor families that can't afford high-quality doctors like we had to for our dad."

The thought of Adam made Kurt smile almost as broadly as Frederick was. It was amazing how great of a family Frederick had come from. Kurt didn't think he'd heard a story as inspiring in his entire life.

"So, Kurt. What made you join the Warblers?" Frederick asked, stacking his, Kurt's and Kyle's now-empty plates and bowls.

"Oh, well...my grandfather was in the military during the Independence War, so I figured I'd follow in his footsteps. Also, my dad used to teach martial arts, so you could say I've been raised to fight in an army." replied Kurt.

"Was your grandfather a Warbler in the war, then?"

"No, actually, he was one of the original New Directions."

Frederick raised an eyebrow. Kurt was used to getting confused reactions whenever he talked about his grandfather. Some people back home in Lima had even gone so far as to frown upon Kurt's family, seeing as his grandfather had helped to defeat the Dalton army.

"So then why did you live in Dalton, of all places?"

"It's a bit of a long story, but I'll try to summarize." Kurt said, telling a story his father had told him more times than he could count. "After the war, my grandfather met a woman from Dalton, Lily Canton, one of the daughters of a family in the nobility, during a unification party between the citizens of Dalton and those of McKinley. They basically fell in love at first sight, and they were married. Luckily, Lily's parents were accepting of her new husband and gave them a place to stay in Lima, where they grew old and had a son, who later inherited the house. That was my father."

"Oh, so do your parents still live there?"

"No...umm...my mother passed away when I was eight, and my father passed when I was sixteen."

The smile melted off of Frederick's face for the first time since Kurt had met him.

"Kurt, I'm so sorry I-"

"It's okay." Kurt gave Frederick a weak smile. "I've gotten used to it. Besides, I enlisted in the army right after my father passed with...with one of my best friends, so it made it a bit easier."

Silence ensued once again in the small cell, the faint lamplight casting shadows on the walls.

"Kyle, I haven't heard anything from you all supper." Kurt inquired, facing the quiet black-haired boy. "What brought you here?"

Kyle remained silent, tilting his head farther down to shield more of his face with his long hair. Then suddenly, he stood up and walked out of the cell without a word, leaving behind his plates and the sounds of his footsteps on the stairwell back up to the main floor.

Kurt and Frederick shared a confused and concerned look.

"To be honest, even I don't know why he's here, and he's been with me 24/7 for the past couple of days." Frederick admitted, a look of concern and guilt on his normally cheerful face. "I'd better go find him and make sure he's okay. Besides, it's getting pretty late."

Frederick picked up the stacks of plates and bowls and stood up off the hard floor. Kurt stood up as well.

"You know, since you probably won't be able to sleep, I figure you could use some time tonight to wander around a bit. Get to know The Fort a bit better and meet some people." Frederick smiled once again as he walked to the cell door.

"Wait, I'm really allowed out of here this early? I haven't even been here a day!" Kurt asked in surprise. The rules at The Fort sure were strange for a military headquarters.

"Sure thing. You've been great today, you got all your work done, and even if you did try to run, there's extra security on all the doors and entrances at night, so I don't think you'd be able to get out so easily. Just go and take a look around, maybe talk to some people. Rose always keeps the bar open late, too, if you get thirsty." Frederick winked and made his way up the stairs, leaving the doors open and unlocked.

Kurt first lay down on his bed, trying to will himself to go to sleep in order to get his sleeping pattern back in check, but after a few minutes, he realized he wasn't going to be passing out anytime soon.

Kurt headed up the stairs into the brighter light of the main floor. The area was significantly quieter than he had previously seen it, as when he'd first arrived it'd been bustling with activity, then it'd been filled with scurrying soldiers during the day. Now, most of the soldiers were asleep, save for a few still chatting at the bar and the guards stationed at the doors leading outside.

Kurt had walked through most of The Fort while he was doing his chores, seeing almost every room of every floor when he was cleaning up the oil spills (how the ND soldiers managed to spill oil in so many random places, Kurt had no idea). However, there were still a few rooms on the top floor of the building that Kurt had yet to see, so out of sheer boredom and insomnia, Kurt decided he'd go up to check out the rooms. He waved to Rose as he passed the bar, then headed up the stairwell to the top floor.

There were only a few doors lining the hallway, and Kurt knew that the majority of them led to the rooms of the higher-up officials in the ND. There was one room in the center that Kurt hadn't looked into, and it was what Kurt assumed to be the main office of Nick and Jeff.

The door was wide open, so Kurt stepped into the empty office to see exactly what he had expected a military officer's room to look like. A desk sat on the far side of the room, covered in what looked like plans for weapons and maps that had been drawn on with several circles and arrows. A single large map of Ohio and its provinces was attached to the wall on the right, with markers stuck into it with pins in several places. A few couches rested along the walls, along with a small table with what looked to be a chess set on it. Kurt walked over and looked at the board to find that the chess game had been left unfinished, a few pieces off the board and blacks and whites all mixed together-

"ALRIGHT! WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME HOW THE HELL HE GOT IN HERE!"

Kurt jumped, almost knocking the table and chess set over in their entirety as he heard Jeff's voice yelling from the floor below. Kurt looked out the door of the office, along with several other soldiers peeking out the doors of their rooms who had either been awake or had been woken up by Jeff's loud yell.

The scream was followed by group of loud, elephant-like footsteps pounding up the stairwell to the top floor. Kurt simply stepped to the side of the office when Jeff stormed in frantically, not noticing Kurt's presence until he slammed his palms onto his desk.

"YOU!" Jeff shouted, pointing a finger at Kurt accusingly. "YOU SENT HIM HERE, DIDN'T YOU!"

Kurt was stunned. What in the world was Jeff talking about? He didn't "send" for anyone...

Just then, Nick burst into the room along with Frederick, the two of them holding a short, struggling male between them.

Kurt swore his heart stopped in that moment.

"I swear, this is all a misunderstanding! I'm just looking for my friend, Kurt! I heard he was here, and..."

The curly-haired captive suddenly looked straight at Kurt, his hazel eyes staring into Kurt's blue ones, rendering Kurt nearly speechless.

"B-B-Blaine?"


	5. Blaine's Story

**A.N.: Hello again!**

**It's funny how I keep promising that things will move faster in the next chapter when, in actuality, things are just going slower because I keep trying to add more detail to what I'm writing.**

**On the bright side, we FINALLY get to the end of Day 1 at The Fort right here, and this is an HONEST-TO-GOODNESS PROMISE that next chapter will contain more than a few hours of a day. In fact it might even *gasp!* contain more than one day of events!**

**So, yeah. I'm sorry that these chapters go so slowly. It'll all most definitely be speeding up soon, though.**

**P.S. So, I've begun to use Tumblr a lot lately, and the community and fandom on there is absolutely fabulous. So if you're on Tumblr and you want to follow me (I honestly only reblog stuff, since I'm technologically impaired and can't figure out how to work the stupid website the majority of the time) or you want me to follow you, just put your Tumblr in if you leave a review or find some way to give it to me. **

**Mine's PossibleImpossibility (dot) tumblr (dot) com. So, yeah.  
><strong>

**I just love Tumblr so much. **

**I mean, today and yesterday, especially. Can you say SEX RIOT? :D  
><strong>

**Sorry for the long A.N. You can get to reading now xD (perhaps leave a wonderful review whether you love it, hate it or think it's just meh? :P)**

**Oh, yeahhh...and the stuff in italics? That's flashback. Hope it doesn't annoy anyone...  
><strong>

**Oh, and I don't own Glee :/ (but I do own my excessive amount of OC's...)**

"Holy...Kurt?"

Blaine's expression resembled that of a stray deer thrown in front of a speeding carriage.

"So you do know this guy!" Kurt felt Jeff's piercing gaze on him as he spoke.

Kurt couldn't bring himself to answer. All he could focus on was the curly-haired boy in front of him. Kurt broke his gaze from Blaine's eyes to examine his tattered and mud-streaked Dalton uniform and his slouched posture exemplifying his exhaustion. The mere sight of him left Kurt speechless, his heart pounding through his head and all his thoughts going into overload.

"Hello? Kurt!" Somehow as Kurt was staring, Jeff had made his way over to the frozen former Warbler and had grabbed his shoulders, shaking him back into focus.

Kurt still didn't take his eyes off of his childhood friend, but did manage to find his voice again. "Blaine," he repeated, taking a deep breath, "Where...What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you." Blaine responded simply, still panting from his hard struggle against Nick and Frederick, both of whom still had hold of his arms.

"Okay, I'm sorry to interrupt this apparently touching moment, but you still haven't answered me." Kurt finally turned his attention to Jeff, who was still angry but seemed to be calming down.

"Ummm...this is Blaine," Kurt began, now avoiding Blaine's gaze so he could continue speaking without distraction. "He was a Warbler with me when we...when we were ambushed."

Kurt saw the three ND soldiers' eyes light up with realization.

"So I'm guessing this is the guy you mentioned before," Nick said, giving Blaine a once-over and relaxing his grip on his arm.

"Wait, you were talking about me?" Blaine asked, causing Kurt to do nothing but blush and look down at his feet.

"Yeah, but I-"

"Okay, we can have this happy little reunion later," Jeff interrupted, still leaning on the edge of the desk. "But first, the two of you have a bit of explaining to do."

The next hour or so consisted of a very nervous Blaine and an extremely flustered Kurt sitting side by side, answering questions after questions that Nick and Jeff asked. Frederick had left the room to calm all the ND soldiers down, as they had all heard the yelling and gone into a panic.

It started out with the two ND commanders asking for Blaine's story about what had happened during the ambush. After a reassuring look from Kurt that the imposing soldiers in front of them were to be trusted, he told them the same story that Kurt had. Jeff and Nick rarely interrupted the repeated story, only making thoughtful hums every now and then while writing everything down in paper pads they had retrieved from a drawer in the large desk.

"So, you were forced to jump into the river as well?" Nick asked Blaine as he was reaching the end of his tale.

"Yes, sir," Blaine nodded, his eyes flickering to Kurt for a split second before a blush began to creep up his face. This tiny gesture made Kurt worry more than he should've. Why was Blaine blushing? Was it because he remembered what had happened just before they jumped? He was probably just complicating Blaine's small action.

"So now that we have your story settled, which seems to be exactly the same as what Kurt told us earlier today, it's time for the important question," Jeff placed his pen and pad of paper down on the desk and folded his hands together. "How the hell did you get into The Fort?"

"Oh, well...to tell you the truth, I just climbed in through a window on the first floor." Blaine replied, looking down at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs in his lap.

"Climbed through a...?" Jeff began in disbelief, before his face turned almost comically serious as his voice switched into monotone. "Did it, by any chance, happen to lead into a storage room full of provisions?"

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I think so. But I didn't take anything, I swear!"

Kurt jumped at a sudden loud bang, only to see that the noise had been made from Nick's forehead colliding with the wood of the desk. At the same time, Jeff slowly rotated his neck to glare at the back of the brunette's now-horizontal head.

"And this is what happens, Nick, when you try to feed the 'woodland creatures' outside The Fort." Jeff said in an almost deathly calm voice. Nick responded by muttering an incomprehensible sentence into the desk. Kurt couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the sight, sharing an amused look with Blaine, who also seemed to find the two ND commanders somewhat entertaining.

"I think we have all the information we need now." Nick gulped after finally parting his forehead from the top of the desk. Jeff continued his murderous gaze in Nick's direction, but waved his hand toward Kurt and Blaine as if to say, "you're dismissed."

Slowly and carefully, the two former Warblers backed out of the room, gingerly closing the office door once they were out in the hallway. Just as the door clicked shut, a yell burst out from the office.

"ARE YOU A FUCKING IDIOT, NICK? YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN US ALL KILLED! LEAVING A WINDOW OPEN ON THE FIRST FLOOR DURING A TIME OF CRISIS, IN A CURRENTLY UNGUARDED LOCATION, NO LESS!"

Kurt and Blaine shared another glance before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter. Kurt honestly didn't know why they were laughing so hard, as both of them had ended up captives of the men who they'd once known as their enemies and neither of them really had any plan of escape. Still, the mannerisms of the ND commanders were hilarious enough to entertain them both to tears, to the point where they were sitting side-by-side on the wooden wall just beside the office's entrance.

It took until that moment for it all to really sink in for Kurt. Blaine was with him, he wasn't dead and he had come to try and rescue him. All in the course of an hour or so, Kurt had regained one of the most precious things he was so convinced that he had lost forever.

Before he realized that he was doing, Kurt nearly tackled his best friend into a bone-crushing hug, both of them still sitting and laughing like small children.

"I'm so happy you're alive." Kurt muttered into Blaine's curly mass of black hair, silently inhaling the scent that he didn't realize he'd missed so much until that moment.

Kurt felt Blaine's arms squeeze around him, wrapping around the small of his back.

"Same goes for you." Blaine replied into Kurt's neck, causing goosebumps to form on the skin where Kurt felt his breath.

"Oh, there you two are."

The two boys released their embrace and turned their heads to the interrupting voice, which belonged to none other than Frederick, dressed in his ND uniform,but almost every inch of him, arms, legs and even most of his face, was covered in white flour.

Kurt pushed himself to stand, raising an eyebrow at the powder-covered man in front of him.

"The yelling caused a bit of commotion in the kitchens, and when I went down to check...well, let's just say the guys who work in there like to have a bit too much fun sometimes." Frederick laughed, answering Kurt's silent question while attempting to brush a bit of the flour off of his uniform. He then turned to Blaine, who was still seated in the floor, leaning against the wall with a tired expression on his face. He extended a hand. "And you must be Blaine. I never really got to formally introduce myself. I'm Frederick, head of what you could call housekeeping around here."

Blaine accepted the hand and shook, returning Frederick's almost-permanent smile. "Pleasure to meet you. Especially when you don't have my arm in a death grip."

"I can tell you'll be a fun one to have around." Frederick laughed once again, just as a black mop of hair came running around a corner and straight to the talking trio.

"Sir, Rose has requested your assistance in one of the storage rooms downstairs." Kyle told Frederick before giving Blaine a questioning glance from beneath his long bangs.

"Will do. I'll be right there once I bring these two back down to the cells." Frederick responded. Kyle nodded, but he didn't move, instead continuing his stare at Blaine, who was staring into space, not noticing Kyle at all.

"Right. Kyle, this is Blaine. Blaine, Kyle." Frederick introduced, realizing Kyle's curiosity. "Blaine's the guy who snuck in just a few hours ago and who causeed all the commotion. Now he's our new prisoner."

Kyle nodded and turned his attention back to Frederick. "I'll meet you in storage room three," was all he said before turning and walking back down the stairwell.

"Not a very sociable guy, is he?" Blaine practically mumbled to himself, but just loud enough for Kurt to hear him.

"From what I've learned today, he's a bit of a cryptic guy." Kurt extended a hand down to Blaine to help him up. Blaine accepted it and pulled himself to a standing position, letting his and Kurt's hands stay clasped together for a few more seconds then necessary before letting go.

"I guess this is my cue to lock you two up again." Frederick sighed, pulling his keys out from his back pocket. "Come on, down to the basement we go."

* * *

><p>"Wait, Kurt, you what?"<p>

Blaine and Kurt sat laughing on the bed of the cell Kurt had been put in earlier that day, both sitting cross-legged and facing one another. When Frederick had brought them down to the cells, he figured the two would want to talk, so he let them stay in the same room and had left a few spare blankets and a pillow so one of them could sleep on the floor. For that, Kurt was extremely grateful, as he and Blaine really did have some things to talk about concerning the night before.

Wow, the ambush had really only been a day before? It seemed like ages had passed since they'd been at the Warbler campsite.

"Please, don't judge! I was so tired, I couldn't think straight!"

"So you thought that walking all the way back to Dalton, where we'd just been almost killed by the prince himself, mind you, with only the clothes on your back was a good idea?"

"I assure you, if you'd woken up on the side of a river..."

"I'd just like to point out that I have actually experienced that very feeling."

"Oh, right."

The boys continued to laugh, Kurt admiring Blaine every second he smiled. He stared at the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed, his broad, contagious smile, the few dark curls that fell in front of his forehead. The two had been talking for what felt like only fifteen minutes or so, but Kurt knew it'd been longer. They'd talked about a variety of topics, from the events of Kurt's day to random memories from their childhood to their wondering if Wes and David were alright (to which they both agreed that they were probably just fine). Unfortunately for Kurt, neither of them had yet brought up the kiss the night before. Every time Kurt thought of talking about it, he'd see how happy Blaine was and how he didn't want to make the conversation awkward when both of them were enjoying themselves so much.

"So, wait. You have yet to tell me what happened to you all day today," Kurt examined. "You know my whole story, my amazingly eventful day. How did you get here?"

Blaine leaned his chin in the palms of his hands. "Well, let's see...it started out when I woke up beside the river, just like you had."

* * *

><p><em>"Mommy, Daddy! There's a man over here! And he's all wet!"<em>

_Blaine opened his eyes slowly, only to find a small red-haired, brown-eyed girl staring down at him._

_"He's awake, too! Mommy, Daddy! Come look!" the girl yelled, turning her head to the distance._

_Blaine heard several footsteps upon rocks before two more figures came into his line of vision. One, a woman, had long, red hair just like her daughter, and a gentle-looking face with blue eyes. The other, a very tall man, had short-cropped brown hair and the same deep brown eyes as the little girl._

_"Oh, dear." The woman kneeled down on the ground, placing a hand on Blaine's forehead. The hand was warm, causing Blaine to notcie that he was shivering from the cold of the river water. "Are you alright, sweetie? Can you stand up?"_

_"I think so, ma'am." Blaine barely croaked out, slowly pushing himself up to a sitting position. He felt a few tender bruises on his legs as he moved, but it wasn't so painful as to hinder his movement._

_"Are you gonna be okay?" The little redhead asked, now kneeling next to her mother._

_"Now, now Kaya. We don't want to overwhelm him." The girl's father gently said._

_Blaine pushed off with his arms to stand up, wavering only a little as he gained his balance on his feel. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness overwhelmed him, causing his knees to buckle beneath him._

_"Take it easy, now." The woman and her husband each took one of Blaine's arms, holding him up so he wouldn't collapse to the rocky ground._

_"Thank you, ma'am." Blaine said, steadying himself until he could stand without the extra support from the kind couple._

_"You can call me Dianna, sweetie." The woman, Dianna, responded as she gently let go of Blaine's arm. The man let go of the other as well._

_"Thank you, Dianna." Blaine smiled at the kind woman. He then took a few slow and experimental steps forward, finding that he was capable of walking without falling to the ground._

_"Yay! You can walk!" The little girl - Kaya, the man had called her - exclaimed, jumping up and down happily. "Are you gonna come home with us, Mister...Mister..."_

_"Blaine," Blaine finished, grinning. Kaya appeared to be no more than six years old, and she was just so adorable the Blaine couldn't help but smile._

_"So are you coming home with us, Mister Blaine?"_

_"Well, that's up to your parents, but I don't think they'll want a stranger like me staying with you for a while. I'll just be a burden." Blaine said truthfully. It was absurd that this family would actually care for him, him being a random boy washed up on the side of a river, in a Dalton Warbler uniform, no less._

_"But you're not a stranger! You're Blaine!" Kaya argued, crossing her arms over her chest. "He can stay with us, right, Mommy and Daddy?"_

_Blaine turned to the two chuckling parents._

_"Of course he can, Kaya." Dianna smiled. Blaine couldn't believe it. This family was actually going to help him, despite only having known him for less than an hour?_

_"No, it's okay, I really couldn't." Blaine protested._

_"We just ask that you let us give you something to eat and dry off your clothes. You'll catch cold if you wear those for too long." Dianna politely said, right as Kaya ran up to hug her leg, still jumping up and down with excitement. "And besides, we don't want to disappoint Kaya, do we?" she added with a wink. Blaine knew he couldn't resist the kind offer, especially since he didn't want to dishearten the little girl._

_"Fine, but only because Kaya asked," Blaine laughed when Kaya looked up and beamed at him, just before detaching herself from her mother to hug his leg as well._

* * *

><p>"They just took you in, no question?" Kurt asked incredulously, interrupting Blaine's story.<p>

"I know, right? I couldn't believe it either," Blaine shook his head. "This family...I just couldn't believe their hospitality."

Kurt throught back to when he'd woken up by the river. Like Blaine, he's been found and taken in almost immediately, regardless of where he'd come from. Sure, in Kurt's case he'd been a prisoner, but he was still treated kindly and given food and clothing. If someone had woken up by a river in Dalton, odds were that people would just walk by, not giving them a second glance. If they were an ND soldier, they would've thrown them back into the river if anything.

"So, you were found by that family," Kurt began, scratching his head, "But how did you end up here?"

"That comes next." And so Blaine continued his tale.

* * *

><p><em>Blaine sat in the kitchen of the family - the last name of which turned out to be Terry, as inscribed on their front door - with a steaming cup of tea in his hand. He wore a set of clothes he'd borrowed from the father, whose name he learned to be Mark, as his were hanging out back on a clothesline. Blaine sat with Mark, both of them sipping from their mugs quietly. Just a few minutes after the four had arrived at the house, which was located in the middle of a small town called Austein, Dianna and Kaya had set off to the market to buy some food for brunch (they'd found Blaine at an early hour in the morning), leaving Blaine and Mark alone in the small, yet cozy house.<em>

_As they sipped their tea, Mark finally asked Blaine where he'd come from and how he ended up washed up by the river. Blaine was surprised none of the family had asked him that question earlier by the river or on the way to the house, and he answered truthfully, figuring Mark deserved the honest story after going to so much trouble to care for him and help him out. Mark took the whole story relatively calmly, making comments here and there, especially when Blaine mentioned finding out that the ambush had been the work of Prince Dustin. Just as Blaine finished his story, he and Mark were interrupted by a loud knock on the front door._

_"Excuse me, Blaine, that's probably one of Dianna's customers. She's a tailor, you see, and we have a few people coming over today to pick some things up." Mark stood up from the table and went to answer the door._

_"It's no problem at all." Blaine said as Mark opened the door to reveal a short, stocky, rosy-cheeked man._

_"Sebastian! How nice to see you!" Mark welcomed the man with a firm handshake. "You're welcome to come in while I fetch your things from the back."_

_"Nice to see you as well, Mark." Sebastian replied in a low, gruff voice, before looking to Blaine who was still sitting at the kitchen table. "And who might this be? I haven't seen you around these parts before."_

_"I-"_

_"This is Blaine, a...cousin of mine." Mark interrupted Blaine, giving him a pointed look that told him not to tell Sebastian his actual identity._

_Blaine rose and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, sir."_

_Sebastian accepted the handshake with a large, slightly sweaty hand. "I didn't know you had another cousin, Mark! I've stopped by during many of your family reunions and never have I seen this young man before!"_

_"That's because I've been...studying at Crawford for the past few years." Blaine covered quickly. "I just graduated this past year and I was in the area, so I wanted to come and visit Mark."_

_Blaine glanced down the hall and saw Mark give him and thumbs-up before he disappeared into a room to retrieve Sebastian's things._

_"Oh ho ho! Crawford, you say! You must be quite the intelligent young man!" Sebastian gave Blaine a rough pat on the shoulder, to which Blaine forced a smile. He was immediately reminded of his home during holidays, when his fairly large and suffocating Aunt Mayzie would do just the same thing. "What are you studying there, young lad?"_

_"Military strategy." Blaine immediately answered, remembering one of his old neighbors who had gone to school for that very major._

_"So you're here to visit the McKinley military camp, I presume?" Sebastian asked, to which Blaine responded with a tentative nod._

_"Well, just between you and me," Sebastian brought his voice down to a whisper, "that place is a bit of a wreck. I've visited once or twice - my son is in the army, see - and everything is simply chaotic. There's not much organization, in my opinion. If you want to go visit a high-quality military base, it's worth a trip to Carmel. That's where I was born and raised, and that Sue Sylvester woman is absolutely brilliant. I mean, I heard just today that the ND found one of those Dalton Warblers washed up by a river, and what did they do? They took him in! If I were them, I would've thrown him back into the river! Dalton scum."_

_Blaine froze at Sebastian's last sentence. Luckily, that was the moment at which Mark finally returned to the main living area with a large pile of clothes and a bill written on the top._

* * *

><p>"Once I heard that the ND had found a Warbler by the river, I knew I had to check it out. I mean, there couldn't have been really any other Warblers floating around in the river, right? I knew it was you, so right after Sebastian left, I grabbed my clothes from out back, and told Mark that I was leaving." Blaine finished.<p>

"Wait, you didn't even say goodbye to Dianna and Kaya?" Kurt questioned.

"Well, I tried to leave, but Mark insisted I stay and eat some food first, so I waited for the girls to get back, practically shoved my brunch down my throat, and ran out the door." Blaine said, "But I promised the three of them that I'd be back soon. I guess I didn't take into account the possibility that I might actually get caught."

"And you didn't tell them where you were going?"

Blaine looked down at his feet shamefully.

"I take that as a no." Kurt reached a hand out to hold Blaine's shoulder comfortingly.

"I just feel so bad," Blaine buried his face in his hands. "I ran away and I didn't even tell them where I was going. I mean, I only actually knew them for a few hours, but I still felt like..."

"You felt close to them, I get it." Kurt moved closer to Blaine, positioning the two of them so that his arm was around both of Blaine's shoulders. Kurt's heart then began to beat faster. Kurt figured that to Blaine, their position was simply a friendly gesture. But to Kurt, it was tinged with intimacy, reminding him of that subject that seemed to be taboo for the entirety of their conversation. Was it finally the moment to bring it up? It was better then than never. Kurt took a deep breath in and-

"Kurt, this is kind of random, but...about last night. On the cliff." Blaine placed his hands back in his lap and looked to Kurt, their eyes meeting. Kurt sawe a certain intensity in Blaine's eyes he hadn't seen before...well, at least not before the moment right before they'd jumped off the cliff. Kurt was torn between feelings of relief that Blaine brought it up first and anxiousness and anticipation for what he had to say.

"What about it?" Kurt could feel his voice shaking. His heart felt as if it were about to jump out of his chest any second.

"I...well, you..." Blaine's voice also sounded tentative and restrained, until it fell to just above a whisper. "You...k-kissed me."

"Yeah..." Kurt answered, scolding himself internally for not being able to form any better answer.

"Why, Kurt?" Blaine asked, his voice still low and barely comprehensible.

"Because...I wanted to, Blaine." Kurt replied simply, looking down at the floor. He felt his eyes begin to water, urging himself not to cry, even though this was it. This was the moment when Blaine told Kurt that even though he was gay, he just didn't like Kurt in that way. That he only saw him as a friend, a best friend nonetheless. Then Kurt would end up heartbroken, and their friendship would never go back to the way it was ever again. Kurt went to lift his hand to wipe his eyes before the tears fell, when he realized it was still wrapped around Blaine's shoulders. Kurt slowly began to slide his arm out from around his friend, but his movement was stopped by a warm, calloused hand's grip around his wrist.

Blaine continued to hold Kurt's wrist, and placed his free hand beneath Kurt's trembling chin, tilting Kurt's head up to look at him. "Hey, now. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Kurt sobbed, ripping his wrist from Blaine's grasp and sliding off the bed, standing on the cold stone floor in the dim lamplight. "I kissed you, Blaine! I kissed my best friend since childhood, fully well knowing that he doesn't have any feelings for me, and he probably never will!"

"Kurt, I-"

"No, Blaine, save your pity! I don't deserve it!" The tears were flowing freely from Kurt's eyes, his whole body trembling and his hand curled up into tight fists at the sides of his body.

Blaine slid off the edge of the bed and walked over to Kurt, gingerly placing a hand on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt's first instinct was the flinch away, but the feel of Blaine's hand on him was so comforting, so warm, that he stood still, small sobs still escaping his body.

"Kurt..." Blaine whispered.

"What, Blaine?" Kurt replied, his voice clipped and soft and tinged with sadness.

Kurt looked up to meet Blaine's eyes, just as Blaine's hand trailed a gentle path from his shoulder to his jawbone, stroking the pale and smooth skin and causing Kurt to close his eyes. The touch put him in a temporary trance, which was only broken when he felt Blaine's warm breath on his lips.

"Who said you were the only one who wanted to?" Blaine whispered, his lips barely grazing Kurt's as he spoke, just before closing the distance.

A pleasant warmth filled Kurt's body as his lips met Blaine's. There was nothing rough about the kiss, nothing urgent like the one on the cliff side. Kurt sighed, moving against Blaine's tender lips before the two parted, leaning their foreheads against one another. This feeling was simply perfection, as if nothing else in the world existed anymore. It was just Kurt and Blaine, and in that moment, that was all that mattered.


End file.
